HTC Vive could go cordless with a wireless prototype in the works

One of the major hardware limitations literally holding virtual reality back is the tether - the braid of cords that stretch from the rear of VR headsets to the computer processing the games and experiences you're seeing through the visor.

For seated VR titles it's a minor frustration, with a potential cable tangle the only real irritation. For room scale VR, as offered by HTC Vive though, it's a real impediment - one that shatters immersion in the worlds you're exploring.

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This problem could soon have a solution, however, as Bulgaria-based Quark VR is partnering with Valve, which co-developed the Vive, to create a wireless option. A prototype version is expected to be shown this year.

Per Quark's announcement, this won't involve any major overhaul of the existing hardware, but rather acts as an add-on.

"The way the headset will become wireless is through a small gadget, connected to the headset, but not wired with cables to the PC itself," the company said. "Instead, the small transmitter, that may be placed in the pocket of the user, sends and receives the signal between the PC and the HTC Vive through Wi-Fi."

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Using a transmitted signal has pros and cons, though. While it removes the cable and doesn't cram any more components into the already-weighty headset, you'll still need a powerful base computer to process the VR games, along with pretty beefy home Wi-Fi network to handle the data load.

Quark - formerly Intugame, which is best known to virtual reality industry-watchers for developing an SDK allowing games created on the Unity engine to run on any VR headset - is aware of the bandwidth issue though. It added: "Getting the experience to feel seamless through Wi-Fi, keeping in mind the inevitable connection delay, was a huge challenge, but we’re getting extremely close to being able to show it in action!"

While Quark's wireless option could be seen as a stopgap measure ahead of a more advanced and natively cable-free HTC Vive 2, it could prove a major development in cutting VR's cord and letting the technology really take off.